Tromso

[marshy11]

Merry Christmas all.

We are looking to go to Tromso in December 2026 – has anyone any hotel recommendations or trips. We are planning on four days we know it will be dark but whale watching, Northern Lights if we are lucky and visiting the town centre/harbour are on our list.

Ideally it would be BA CE flight from LHR direct but would consider another airline outward to do an overnight elsewhere for a change of scene but need to travel back direct. Will be cash so no need to consider Avios routes.

Anything else pertinent that I’ve missed let me know.

So far we seem veering towards Clarion The Edge in Tromso for the full four in a deluxe as it has a slightly larger bed (180cm) which we prefer.

Thank you.

[rickla]

We visited in December 24, and stayed at The Edge. Great location, fantastic breakfast and decent rooms – especially if you can get one with a harbour view. Not luxury but easily good enough for us.
For trips, we did the Brim Explorer silent whale watching – long day as it takes nearly 3 hours to get to the whales, and very cold on deck, but we enjoyed it, saw humpbacks but no orcas unfortunately – departs from a pier about 50 yards from the hotel. Remember it is pretty much dark all day with maybe 3 or 4 hours of twilight in the middle of the day – this was surprisingly disconcerting. Our best trip was a full day “Arctic fjords and reindeer” trip with “Wandering Reindeer” – felt pretty authentic with a Sami guide, a good lunch, and a very enjoyable reindeer experience in a smallish group of about 12 or 13 of us.

[rickla]

PS If you buy Choice points during one of their offers, the hotel can be had quite cheaply for Norway.

[Annie]

We stayed at Home Hotel With during Easter this year. Very pleasant and right on the harbour. Rates were reasonable and included dinner which was a nice surprise.

[marshy11]

We took the plunge and have booked. Three nights flying out Thursday back Sunday. We opted for the Edge and have done the entire thing through BAH. BA CE flights LHR to TOS just a tad over 4K for four of us B&B.

If anyone has any further nuggets to help us plan then do share.

[rickla]

I’d be tempted to book restaurants in advance if I went again – it can get quite busy, and we struggled to get into our first choice places.

[Alex]

We go to Tromso in February – any other hints what are best activities there will be very much appreciated!

[zio]

Personal view, obviously… nothing comes close to watching the aurora, if you are lucky. Dog sledding, reindeer sledding, cable car to the viewpoint and snowshoe hike, snowmobile and whale watching are all entertaining enough to while away the short daylight hours, especially if you haven’t done them before. Near the centre there is the polar museum, polaria, cathedral, brewery tour, a visit to Tromso stadium (site of Chelsea’s finest hour), but I wouldn’t put any of them in the must-do category.

[marshy11]

rickla wrote:

I’d be tempted to book restaurants in advance if I went again – it can get quite busy, and we struggled to get into our first choice places.

Any recommends? Was it busy due to when you went or is it busy in general? We are there first week of December.